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You can’t ask me that: Are we ever truly sorry?

When it comes to three little words that are difficult to say, “I love you” really doesn’t come close to being the most difficult phrase in the English language. One of the things we actually find hardest to say is “I’m sorry”.

Surprising, isn’t it, given that one of the cliches about the English in particular is that we just can’t stop saying it. We say it when we didn’t hear what someone said to us.

We say it when we want to get by on a busy pavement. We say it when someone particularly heavy-footed steps backwards onto our toes on the Tube, breaking three metatarsals and putting us out of next week’s ballroom dancing competition. We say it all the time.